I was honestly expecting to see a headline today "WHITE OUT!" and i suspect that had the much criticised Brett Holman not popped up to seal the result i probably would've. So even though the stereo type is 'a game of too halves' I'm going to write this in terms of colours! I believe it's the artist that I've been hiding under my outer engineer finally getting a run!
WHITE - The all whites dominated, it's the simple truth. Before Bertos was nearly killed (see red below) he was brilliant. Perfectly illustrated by the fact that the two challenges in question happened while he was breaking down the right wing, and then tracking back in the centre of defence. Despite this and the Killen dude popping up to latch on to a good through ball which Craig Moore could of done better with (watch the replay, he ducks under the ball as it comes over as he is not challenging Fallon who flicks it on, he's standing flat footed waiting for the ball to come to him) I honestly don't think NZ were that impressive. Rather i think they just had the calm heads required to take advantage of a dis jointed and unfamiliar Socceroos team. Add to this a seemingly bobbling pitch, which either was remarkably slow (from the coverage) or slowed down the passing so much it was noticeable and it was definitely an ALL WHITE first half. Well done NZ, I think your calm heads will stand you in good shape for SA. Good luck to you.
RED - Much covered in the media today already so i won't Andy Harper on it, but Grella's challenge had intent and was a straight red, and Cahill's had no intent but was still a straight red. I wish Pim had of done what he said post game and substituted them immediately to make it clear to the world that it's just not on! Once again i will congratulate Bertos as if someone had of nearly put me out of a world cup i wouldn't of been as calm as he has been reported to be today!
GOLD - There wasn't much of it really. Let's be honest. I'd forgotten Jason Cullina was even on the park until the second half, Grella i only noticed because of the challenge (see above), apart from one good knock down and blocked shot from Cahill it was pretty terrible. The second half was a world ahead of the first but not a world beating 45 minutes of football. No surprises Macdonald got dropped, if that 65 odd minutes were his last chance it wasn't really good enough, although it does beg the question why there weren't any other strikers in the provisional squad (brosque, Griffiths x2, that south american/australian young guy etc). Vidosic did well to be quickest to react to a deflection from a Cullina pass and did what he should have hammering his shot into the ground and across the keeper (did anyone else have flash backs to a Kewell goal against Croatia?? Or was that just me?). Hollman did well when he came on, and i won't join the numerous critics accept to say i think their are better options available, and scoring a goal at international level should not be sneezed at! My biggest concern was Neil and Moore, I'd be interested in watching a replay and running the numbers, but i would guess that they won less than 10% of the balls in the air, for a CB pairing, that's not good enough. I hope they were just having an off night, but I'm not convinced Moore is ready to go at this stage. Add to this the removal of Jade North already and another defender (at least by my count) to get the chop and defence could be our biggest issue in SA.
So it was a bit of a ramble, but i think it expresses my views on the subject at least. And it's not like anyone reads this anyway! Good luck Socceroos, I will echo Pim's comments that if the world cup was in 3 days I'd be worried, but with 3 weeks to prepare i think there was enough in the second half to suggest we'll be competitive!
See you at the art convention...
B!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Injury - double the pain!
So, with myself and chief out through injury, Bob OS, Nits likewise gallavanting, Shiraz with a dodgy hammy, Tony with a suspected fractured ankle, Dusko nearly dead, and probably someone else I've missed it wasn't exactly the best preparation for a game. Having said that we started reasonably well as everyone settled into new positions and came to terms with a few different styles of play. Unfortunately as we are making a habit of in recent weeks after a 15 or 20 minute opening domination of possession and play, we gave one of their guys a bit too much room at the top of the box, and whilst i wouldn't say his shot was blistering it did enough for Rusty to have to play at it, and unfortunately just took enough off it to see it under the bar and in. 1-0.
We've (well I in particular) have been harping on at training about having better talk on the field, I've noticed that were good at talking when we want the ball, but apart from that there is a resounding silence. Unfortunately again after a good 10 minute play straight after their goal we were guilty of just this. No call of man on for Al at left back, no call between Al and Rusty, and a strikers foot in resulting in the ball sneaking in at the back post somehow. 2-0
At half time Chief and i really couldn't pick too many faults with the play, we were actually playing quite well, just conceded two soft goals. Heads up boys, we're still in it!
Not long into the second half we got our just reward. To be honest with you i can't even remember how it came about but i remember some good passing through their relatively slow back line and the score was looking a lot better at 2-1. Too good to be true right, despite numerous changes immediately after, they countered. The ref didn't give a blatant free kick to them, so decided that when Kev got hacked from behind, he'd reward it the other way! (probably the worst of a series of bad decisions from our friend with the whistle. From the resultant free kick James mis-qued a header into the cross bar, everyone stopped, except their striker who nodded home for 3-1. 3 soft goals.
Full credit to all involved we didn't give up and were rewarded again with a brilliant build up through the mids which put Chris through onto goal and he made no mistake with a neat finish into the bottom corner. 3-2.
Unfortunately the clock was our enemy and we ran out of time to equalise. It was a tough one to take for all i believe. I hate watching from the sidelines, especially when I'm injured (hence the double pain), and i can only imagine how hard it was for the rest of the boys who played so bloody well for 3 lapses in concentration and a bit of bad luck to ruin our chances!
We need to stay switched on for 90 minutes this week, tighten up, but generally play the same style as we did on Saturday. A victory on the weekend will be enough to keep us in the title race as we're playing Kenthurst who we are equal 5th with! come on boys, come on Kenny keep sending your inspirational emails and random facebook messages! Fire up Rovers!
See you on the sideline...
B!
(Just kidding, I've been cleared to play this weekend, woot!)
We've (well I in particular) have been harping on at training about having better talk on the field, I've noticed that were good at talking when we want the ball, but apart from that there is a resounding silence. Unfortunately again after a good 10 minute play straight after their goal we were guilty of just this. No call of man on for Al at left back, no call between Al and Rusty, and a strikers foot in resulting in the ball sneaking in at the back post somehow. 2-0
At half time Chief and i really couldn't pick too many faults with the play, we were actually playing quite well, just conceded two soft goals. Heads up boys, we're still in it!
Not long into the second half we got our just reward. To be honest with you i can't even remember how it came about but i remember some good passing through their relatively slow back line and the score was looking a lot better at 2-1. Too good to be true right, despite numerous changes immediately after, they countered. The ref didn't give a blatant free kick to them, so decided that when Kev got hacked from behind, he'd reward it the other way! (probably the worst of a series of bad decisions from our friend with the whistle. From the resultant free kick James mis-qued a header into the cross bar, everyone stopped, except their striker who nodded home for 3-1. 3 soft goals.
Full credit to all involved we didn't give up and were rewarded again with a brilliant build up through the mids which put Chris through onto goal and he made no mistake with a neat finish into the bottom corner. 3-2.
Unfortunately the clock was our enemy and we ran out of time to equalise. It was a tough one to take for all i believe. I hate watching from the sidelines, especially when I'm injured (hence the double pain), and i can only imagine how hard it was for the rest of the boys who played so bloody well for 3 lapses in concentration and a bit of bad luck to ruin our chances!
We need to stay switched on for 90 minutes this week, tighten up, but generally play the same style as we did on Saturday. A victory on the weekend will be enough to keep us in the title race as we're playing Kenthurst who we are equal 5th with! come on boys, come on Kenny keep sending your inspirational emails and random facebook messages! Fire up Rovers!
See you on the sideline...
B!
(Just kidding, I've been cleared to play this weekend, woot!)
Monday, May 10, 2010
Things that make you go....... hmmmmmmmmmmm
Well, this weekend seems to have been the moment when the footballing gods reminded us that the game we love can be a bitter sweet mistress sometimes. Just ask ourselves, the Goblins (losing a heart breaker 1 nil with 10 men), Wigan (say no more) and Harry Kewell's groin (hmmmmm)... I only have first hand experience on one of them, and no it's not H.Kewell's groin! So that is the one i will attempt to discuss in depth.
Buoyed by our hard fought victory last weekend we assembled with confidence, however knowing that Armyn and Nahid had to leave early we took a gamble on one young Kevin lacing up the boots in anticipation of that dual loss late in the second half. We also knew that we needed to make hay while the sun shone, or in this case, make running while the bench was full! Unfortunately the game started similar to last week, we conceded early to an excellent through ball, latched on to by their striker. I stepped up to close down the player with the ball, who succeeded in beating me and Tony with his delivery, from their neither of us were likely to chase him down. 1 nil. We didn't put our heads down and concentrated on playing our own game, which we did quite well, knocking the ball around and making some very good passages of play. Unfortunately we didn't really create any clear cut chances with the ball. Roughly 10 minutes before the break nearly a carbon copy, I again stepped forward in the line to close down, failed, and a perfect through ball, another chance taken for them. 2 nil. Someone once told me that making one mistake was to learn, and to make the same mistake again was a fuck up... hmmmmmmmm i must not of listened!
We spoke at half time about being right in the game and sticking to much of the same. Which we did, we proceeded to dominate completely, I'd say in the second half we would've had close to 60% of the ball. But despite our best efforts we couldn't break down their scrambling defence. Again probably guilty of not taking our shots early enough and hindered by Shiraz's hamstring injury after the boys had left reduced us to maybe 10.5. Despite the hammy, Shiraz managed two or three decent long range shots just off target. Bob had a header lacking power on target, and countless other people had opportunities high wide and not too handsome. But it definitely wasn't for lack of trying. Full time and it had stayed 2 nil, I'm proud that we tightened up at the back in the 2nd half, but it shouldn't of taken that long, and the boys through the centre and up front toiled extra hard for no reward.
There was one passage of play in particular that even Fozzie and Barca would've been happy with, a short goal kick and passed all the way to the goal (but once again resulting in nought!). I won't harp on the fact that their striker pushed me as i stepped off my left foot to avoid Dusco, resulting in me hitting him hard with all 94kg of my frame, neither of us came off too well i don't think. The ref summed up his ordinary performance with by arguing with me that by not giving the guy a card, even though he'd seen me get pushed in the back, that he was playing the advantage... hmmmmmm... Despite me and Dusco both rolling on the ground with the wind and the shit knocked out of us. Sorry D, I'm working on losing some weight, maybe it'll only be 90kg next time! ... hmmmmmmm...
So what to do, i don't think much really, some much needed shooting drills will be on this Wednesday. Apart from that we just need to keep our heads up, concentrate on not making mistakes at the back, and will welcome back some squad members this weekend to bolster our overall numbers. Heads up and lets do more of the same, except with a tighter defence and some more goals! ha ha, easy right?!?!?!
Although i think my medical staff (me) will rule me out for rest on my injured ribs and shoulder (thanks Dusco ;) ) I will still make an appearance at training either way.
See you at the back stick (probably defending a corner!) ... Things that make you go hmmm!
B!
Buoyed by our hard fought victory last weekend we assembled with confidence, however knowing that Armyn and Nahid had to leave early we took a gamble on one young Kevin lacing up the boots in anticipation of that dual loss late in the second half. We also knew that we needed to make hay while the sun shone, or in this case, make running while the bench was full! Unfortunately the game started similar to last week, we conceded early to an excellent through ball, latched on to by their striker. I stepped up to close down the player with the ball, who succeeded in beating me and Tony with his delivery, from their neither of us were likely to chase him down. 1 nil. We didn't put our heads down and concentrated on playing our own game, which we did quite well, knocking the ball around and making some very good passages of play. Unfortunately we didn't really create any clear cut chances with the ball. Roughly 10 minutes before the break nearly a carbon copy, I again stepped forward in the line to close down, failed, and a perfect through ball, another chance taken for them. 2 nil. Someone once told me that making one mistake was to learn, and to make the same mistake again was a fuck up... hmmmmmmmm i must not of listened!
We spoke at half time about being right in the game and sticking to much of the same. Which we did, we proceeded to dominate completely, I'd say in the second half we would've had close to 60% of the ball. But despite our best efforts we couldn't break down their scrambling defence. Again probably guilty of not taking our shots early enough and hindered by Shiraz's hamstring injury after the boys had left reduced us to maybe 10.5. Despite the hammy, Shiraz managed two or three decent long range shots just off target. Bob had a header lacking power on target, and countless other people had opportunities high wide and not too handsome. But it definitely wasn't for lack of trying. Full time and it had stayed 2 nil, I'm proud that we tightened up at the back in the 2nd half, but it shouldn't of taken that long, and the boys through the centre and up front toiled extra hard for no reward.
There was one passage of play in particular that even Fozzie and Barca would've been happy with, a short goal kick and passed all the way to the goal (but once again resulting in nought!). I won't harp on the fact that their striker pushed me as i stepped off my left foot to avoid Dusco, resulting in me hitting him hard with all 94kg of my frame, neither of us came off too well i don't think. The ref summed up his ordinary performance with by arguing with me that by not giving the guy a card, even though he'd seen me get pushed in the back, that he was playing the advantage... hmmmmmm... Despite me and Dusco both rolling on the ground with the wind and the shit knocked out of us. Sorry D, I'm working on losing some weight, maybe it'll only be 90kg next time! ... hmmmmmmm...
So what to do, i don't think much really, some much needed shooting drills will be on this Wednesday. Apart from that we just need to keep our heads up, concentrate on not making mistakes at the back, and will welcome back some squad members this weekend to bolster our overall numbers. Heads up and lets do more of the same, except with a tighter defence and some more goals! ha ha, easy right?!?!?!
Although i think my medical staff (me) will rule me out for rest on my injured ribs and shoulder (thanks Dusco ;) ) I will still make an appearance at training either way.
See you at the back stick (probably defending a corner!) ... Things that make you go hmmm!
B!
Monday, May 3, 2010
That was it!
Well that was it boys! It was the performance that we needed to galvanise our season. Even though we were undefeated to date, it was fair to say we weren't really firing on all cylinders. That all changed on Saturday against the Eagles from Normanhurst.
Frankly, the game couldn't of started worse, James and I got caught too high, (and too slow) and they put one of their first touches straight between us, to be run on to by their very quick striker. Slotted even though Dusco got a couple of fingers to it. Like James Bond's martini's, we were shaken not stirred. Luckily that was all about to change, and we pulled our fingers out. The defence sat a bit deeper and cleaned up and we knocked the ball around well. Probably even better than well given the poor condition of the pitch. Fortunately for us, but not for the poor guy, the quick man up front did a hammy about 10 minutes in.
After having the lions share of possession we were rewarded with a penalty from a hand ball. Shiraz asked Tony to take it, Tony was on the bench injured, Bob told Shiraz to take it, then Shiraz told Bob to take it. Full of misplaced confidence after practising at training i put my hand up. Placing the ball down i thought, fuck this keeper is massive. Maybe that, or my complete lack of ability was my undoing. Always going bottom right, i managed to miss hit it straight at the keeper, saved, devo, dickhead!
Again we passed the ball around and Kevin was ruled to have been pushed in the back for our second penalty of the game, (and about the 1000th for the season I'm led to believe!) Kevin, taking my lead, smacked his penalty straight at the giagantour keeper! You ever see that show, saved by the bell, well Kevin is the new star of a spin off, called saved by the lino! Flag up, keeper off his line, have another go Kev! Slotted, 1 all!
Second half, more of the same really, i honestly believe we weren't really threatened the defence finally gelled, the mid field did everything we'd asked for and more, and the boys up front pushed hard. We just couldn't find that goal. Kenny sacrificed his shin for the cause after he was absolutely smashed to win a free kick right on the edge of the box. Up steps Shiraz to smack a screamer on target, giagantour could only fumble it, and Bob was on hand to push it in with his knee, or shin, or knob... 2-1...
Just when we were reasonably comfortable in front, Kevin had a brain snap, well two brain snaps in quick succession, yellow for impeding restart of play from free quick, yellow for impeding a throw in, results in red, bye bye Kevin. Despite the extra man, the Eagles didn't threaten too strongly, we absorbed a lot of pressure for the last 10 minutes and could of sealed it late with 2 or 3 chances on the counter. They looked dangerous from set pieces, but this was more to do with their combined height which if stood head on shoulders would've reached the moon!
Well done Rovers, apart from some dickhead who had his penalty saved, it was a dominate performance even at the end with 10 men. Rest up this weekend Kev, you've earned your weekend off! Everyone else, remember that form, and continue it!
See you at the penalty spot (if anyone lets me near it ever again!)
B!
Frankly, the game couldn't of started worse, James and I got caught too high, (and too slow) and they put one of their first touches straight between us, to be run on to by their very quick striker. Slotted even though Dusco got a couple of fingers to it. Like James Bond's martini's, we were shaken not stirred. Luckily that was all about to change, and we pulled our fingers out. The defence sat a bit deeper and cleaned up and we knocked the ball around well. Probably even better than well given the poor condition of the pitch. Fortunately for us, but not for the poor guy, the quick man up front did a hammy about 10 minutes in.
After having the lions share of possession we were rewarded with a penalty from a hand ball. Shiraz asked Tony to take it, Tony was on the bench injured, Bob told Shiraz to take it, then Shiraz told Bob to take it. Full of misplaced confidence after practising at training i put my hand up. Placing the ball down i thought, fuck this keeper is massive. Maybe that, or my complete lack of ability was my undoing. Always going bottom right, i managed to miss hit it straight at the keeper, saved, devo, dickhead!
Again we passed the ball around and Kevin was ruled to have been pushed in the back for our second penalty of the game, (and about the 1000th for the season I'm led to believe!) Kevin, taking my lead, smacked his penalty straight at the giagantour keeper! You ever see that show, saved by the bell, well Kevin is the new star of a spin off, called saved by the lino! Flag up, keeper off his line, have another go Kev! Slotted, 1 all!
Second half, more of the same really, i honestly believe we weren't really threatened the defence finally gelled, the mid field did everything we'd asked for and more, and the boys up front pushed hard. We just couldn't find that goal. Kenny sacrificed his shin for the cause after he was absolutely smashed to win a free kick right on the edge of the box. Up steps Shiraz to smack a screamer on target, giagantour could only fumble it, and Bob was on hand to push it in with his knee, or shin, or knob... 2-1...
Just when we were reasonably comfortable in front, Kevin had a brain snap, well two brain snaps in quick succession, yellow for impeding restart of play from free quick, yellow for impeding a throw in, results in red, bye bye Kevin. Despite the extra man, the Eagles didn't threaten too strongly, we absorbed a lot of pressure for the last 10 minutes and could of sealed it late with 2 or 3 chances on the counter. They looked dangerous from set pieces, but this was more to do with their combined height which if stood head on shoulders would've reached the moon!
Well done Rovers, apart from some dickhead who had his penalty saved, it was a dominate performance even at the end with 10 men. Rest up this weekend Kev, you've earned your weekend off! Everyone else, remember that form, and continue it!
See you at the penalty spot (if anyone lets me near it ever again!)
B!
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